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May 18, 2011 12:01 PM   Subscribe

Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) now found in fetal blood

For some of The Blue, they already are aware of GMOs in food crop. The use of glyphosate on modified crop land has resulted in "superweeds" and 15% infertility rate and 35% rate of spontaneous abortions. The experimentation on the Biosphere with glypgosate continues with Roundup Ready alfalfa.

The other GMO idea - put the toxin in the plant. Now that toxin is being found in humans. From the India Today link:
Cry1Ab toxin was detected in 93 per cent and 80 per cent of maternal and fetal blood samples, respectively and in 69 per cent of tested blood samples from non-pregnant women.
Unlike the glyphosate problem, solve able by just not using the 185 million pounds a year of chemical, this GMO genie is out of the bottle and in the biosphere.
posted by rough ashlar (29 comments total)

This post was deleted for the following reason: If you need to make this post clearer about just who is having abortions, please feel free to do this in a post tomorrow, this is messy and needs to maybe be redone. -- jessamyn



 
Now what am I gonna drink?
posted by klangklangston at 12:02 PM on May 18, 2011 [8 favorites]


"He’s heard from cattle farmers who are struggling because they’re experiencing a 15% infertility rate and 35% rate of spontaneous abortions among their herds.
...
Of course, all this is merely anecdotal. Whether it can be scientifically proven that farm animals are suffering because they’re eating Roundup Ready soy and corn is another story.
Editorialize much ?
posted by Pogo_Fuzzybutt at 12:06 PM on May 18, 2011 [2 favorites]


Now, now, let's give the Goofy Gopher Revue a fair chance to respond to these allegations.
posted by Gator at 12:07 PM on May 18, 2011


Yeah, when you talk about an alleged 35% rate of spontaneous abortions, might want to mention that's among cattle, not people.
posted by kafziel at 12:07 PM on May 18, 2011 [6 favorites]


Damnit, I'm cynical and even I thought Monsanto would manage to be cautious enough to avoid such huge real world impacts if only for the ability to avoid medium term intense regulation. It's not even good for shareholder value.
posted by jaduncan at 12:10 PM on May 18, 2011


Is there anybody, besides Monstanto itself and the people that Monstanto gives money to, that likes Monstanto and thinks what they do is good?
posted by Threeway Handshake at 12:10 PM on May 18, 2011 [1 favorite]


So does anyone have access to the paper? A two-minute Google turns up nothing on this but breathless regurgitations by the usual suspects.
posted by eeeeeez at 12:11 PM on May 18, 2011


Threeway Handshake: I'm sure many of their customers (farmers, etc) find their products save them a lot of money or whatever.
posted by aubilenon at 12:11 PM on May 18, 2011


If these studies pan out, it will be interesting to watch Monsanto come up with safer, more-profitable alternatives.
posted by gorgor_balabala at 12:13 PM on May 18, 2011


I flagged this because a single link news post isn't exactly credible.

Threeway Handshake- I do. Like most corporations they do a lot of stupid or outright bad things, but they are also trying to create crops that produce as well as petro-fertilized and pesticided crops fewer inputs. There are others doing it better, but we're going to need all the players working on the problem of making our agricultural system sustainable long term.
posted by R343L at 12:14 PM on May 18, 2011


It's a bit of a spacey link (heh), but here's a vBulletin thread listing off-the-shelf consumables with genetically-modified ingredients.
posted by Smart Dalek at 12:14 PM on May 18, 2011


Fresh doubts have arisen about the safety of genetically modified crops, with a new study reporting presence of Bt toxin, used widely in GM crops, in human blood for the first time.

Genetically modified crops include genes extracted from bacteria to make them resistant to pest attacks.


Monsanto: "We're making your babies more resistant to pests and vermin! You fuckers should be paying us EXTRA!"
posted by FatherDagon at 12:16 PM on May 18, 2011


Found it, as always, if anyone wants a copy, doesn't have access, and wants to use it to contribute to this academic discussion that we are having, MeMail me an email address I can send a PDF to.
posted by Blasdelb at 12:17 PM on May 18, 2011


Is there anybody, besides Monstanto itself and the people that Monstanto gives money to, that likes Monstanto and thinks what they do is good?

(It's Monsanto. Not Monstanto.)

There was an episode of Penn & Teller's Bullshit! which argued the increased yields provided by GM food has made it possible to feed thousands in the developing world.

P&T do have an overt libertarian agenda, and they admit themselves that the show is primarily for entertainment purposes (translation: don't mistake a show which regularly features naked boobies and dick jokes for rigorous peer-reviewed research). I have no idea whether they're right, but it's worth looking into.
posted by ixohoxi at 12:19 PM on May 18, 2011


woops, its available for free, I think.
posted by Blasdelb at 12:20 PM on May 18, 2011


Monsanto: "We're making your babies more resistant to pests and vermin! You fuckers should be paying us EXTRA!"

Cue the inevitable claim by Monsanto that the farmers calves are their property.
posted by Big_B at 12:21 PM on May 18, 2011 [1 favorite]


(note: the bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis was not itself found in the blood as is indicated by this post, just the toxin expressed by the Bt derived transgene)
posted by Salvor Hardin at 12:22 PM on May 18, 2011


MeMail me an email address I can send a PDF to.

Just put it up on Scribd or something where everyone can read it. You can use a throwaway email address, and legally you're better off than acting as the direct distributor.

Is there anybody, besides Monstanto itself and the people that Monstanto gives money to, that likes Monstanto and thinks what they do is good?

I do. I thought GMOs sounded like a hideous, evil conspiracy when I first encountered the idea back in the 1990s. I changed my mind, in part because so much of the anti-GMO advocacy is awash in woo. I'm willing to have it changed back, but only by proper application of the scientific method.
posted by anigbrowl at 12:23 PM on May 18, 2011 [1 favorite]


(note: the bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis was not itself found in the blood as is indicated by this post, just the toxin expressed by the Bt derived transgene)

True. Mea Culpa. Perhaps the lords of the manor can adjust that.
posted by rough ashlar at 12:23 PM on May 18, 2011


Blasdelb: woops, its available for free, I think.

Nope, I see the article offered for $31.50, or available to people who have accounts.
posted by filthy light thief at 12:25 PM on May 18, 2011


Also: this post is misleading. In addition to the phrasing of the abortion statistic, the text of the main link is outright false:

Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) now found in fetal blood

Nope. Bt is a species of bacterium, used as a biological pesticide in organic agriculture.

But you can also extract the toxin itself from the bacterium, and apply that directly to the plant as a pesticide.

Or you can splice the toxin-producing genes from the bacterium into the plant's genome, causing it to produce the toxin itself. This is what the article is talking about.

That doesn't make the finding any less disturbing, but let's try to report facts accurately. Food safety debates are already full of misinformation.
posted by ixohoxi at 12:25 PM on May 18, 2011 [3 favorites]


Scaremongering bullshit:

The toxicity of each Bt type is limited to one or two insect orders, and is nontoxic to vertebrates and many beneficial arthropods. The reason is that Bt works by binding to the appropriate receptor on the surface of midgut epithelial cells. Any organism that lacks the appropriate receptors in its gut cannot be affected by Bt

You literally cannot be affected by BT toxin. It has nothing to do with whether it's 'in your blood' or not.
posted by empath at 12:26 PM on May 18, 2011 [6 favorites]


Crap. Now how will cotton bollworms survive in my baby's blood?
posted by maryr at 12:26 PM on May 18, 2011 [3 favorites]


(note: the bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis was not itself found in the blood as is indicated by this post, just the toxin expressed by the Bt derived transgene)

A toxin with no known effect on humans.
posted by kafziel at 12:27 PM on May 18, 2011 [1 favorite]


The Bt toxin is an extremely specific toxin. There are a few variations on it and each of them only affects a few different species of insect and then only in the larval form. The purified toxin has been used as an insecticide since the 1920s and is generally considered safe for pretty much everything except the specifically targeted pest species. It will take significant evidence to show that Bt toxin produced by GM crops is problematic when Bt toxin sprayed on regular crops is not.

Speaking of evidence: the abstract only mentions that Bt toxin was detected. What level was it detected at? And note that no conclusions are drawn as to whether it has any deleterious effects on the mother, fetus, or offspring. That's a subject of future research.
posted by jedicus at 12:27 PM on May 18, 2011 [2 favorites]


Cue the inevitable claim by Monsanto that the farmers calves infants are their property.
posted by FatherDagon at 12:28 PM on May 18, 2011 [1 favorite]


Look, Monsanto is just trying to build up our immunities by slowly exposing us to toxins over the years. It's like Wesley in The Princess Bride, okay? Nothing to worry about.

Seriously, though I am not a Monsanto fan on just general principles, this post is really misleading. Not only does it state as fact that which is yet unproven, it relies mostly on anecdotal evidence (like a scientist saying he has "heard from farmers" that their cattle are sick or their calves are being aborted. Really, a wizard scientist should know better!).

But hey, the post about the journalist with the genetically altered Russian alien teen spaceship pilots stayed up, so who am I to judge?
posted by misha at 12:29 PM on May 18, 2011 [1 favorite]


Is there anybody, besides Monstanto itself and the people that Monstanto gives money to, that likes Monstanto and thinks what they do is good?

I'm a big fan of using genetic modification to increase crop yields, I'm not a fan of their use of intelectual property law however.
posted by furiousxgeorge at 12:30 PM on May 18, 2011


Holy shit, I cannot believe I typed their name wrong like 30 times in a row. Monsanto Monsanto Monsanto. I even know how it was spelled. Hah!

they are also trying to create crops that produce as well as petro-fertilized and pesticided crops fewer inputs. There are others doing it better, but we're going to need all the players working on the problem of making our agricultural system sustainable long term.

I thought GMOs sounded like a hideous, evil conspiracy when I first encountered the idea back in the 1990s.


I'm not talking about GMO, I'm talking about the Monsanto company. Why do they do all sorts of anti-competitive bullshit like prevent farmers from keeping their own seeds, and maintaining blacklists of farmers not buying from them? That is what I really don't understand.
posted by Threeway Handshake at 12:30 PM on May 18, 2011


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